Konya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Uğur Ibrahim Altay stated that they have invested a total of 278 million Turkish Liras in agricultural support and agricultural irrigation over the past 5 years in order to promote agricultural development throughout the city and increase the income of rural residents.
The Konya Metropolitan Municipality continues to increase its support for farmers and producers from Konya every day.
Konya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Uğur Ibrahim Altay stated that as the Metropolitan Municipality, they have made it a priority to increase the income of citizens engaged in agriculture, help them earn more through alternative products, and, most importantly, contribute to employment.
Altay noted that within this framework, they have contributed to reducing the input costs of farmers in the 31 districts in various areas, ranging from fruit tree seedlings to seed support, from seedlings to greenhouse materials, and from medical aromatic plants to agricultural machinery and equipment support. He mentioned, "Starting from the beginning of the year 2023 alone, to encourage our farmers to produce alternative products, we provided them with support, including 286,000 seedlings and young plants of 13 different types. Additionally, we offered support in the form of 6,825 kilograms of asparagus seeds and various machinery and equipment. Alongside this, we also provide agricultural training to our farmers to promote modern farming techniques and increase productivity."
Altay emphasized their efforts to develop indigenous seeds, especially in arid climates in Konya. He made the following remarks: "This year, we conducted chickpea cultivation on an area of 1.4 million square meters and produced domestic and national potato seeds on an area of 2.5 million square meters. Hopefully, we have an effort to increase our planting area from 7 million square meters to 10 million square meters next year. The main goal here is to bring unused lands into agriculture and conduct research and development for Konya's agriculture to generate data regarding the future consequences of climate change. I thank everyone who contributed. We will continue to develop the project in collaboration with Karatay Municipality. Konya is an agricultural city, and as the President of the International Union of Agricultural Cities, we will have the opportunity to share the data we obtain from our work here with all of Turkey and the world. Good luck to all."
